Four short stories: Cabin Baggage, The Haircut of a More Successful Man, Headgames, and Christmas Inside
Cabin Baggage
On his way to helping his sister with her wedding preparations, Brad strikes up a cabin-bound conversation with his seat-mate, Claudia--though both swear they are not plane talkers. By the end of a flight during which Claudia convinces Brad to help her dub over the in-flight movie, carry-on peculiar baggage during his next flight, and take her phone number, Brad is infatuated. But Claudia has a guy and a cat and damp rising up her walls and is in Singapore besides, so why is Brad suddenly measuring life in Claudia-time?
The Haircut of a More Successful Man
Sometimes a man just needs a haircut. Sometimes a man needs a shampoo, too. And sometimes, a man needs something more, something more elaborate, something that includes a haircut and a shampoo but also the lithe fingers and gentle voice of being well cared for and groomed.
Headgames
"Sometimes he thinks about swimming, about how his name must sit pretty high on a lot of well-informed people's lists of Coulda Beens. The problem was he should have been, expected to be. They all told him he would be. That he would be a champion and that to get there all he had to do was give it 100 percent. That's what they said."
But that's not what happened. Now he works at a pool, as a lifeguard, collecting damp admission fees from the swimmers, attempting to balance a pH he just can't seem to get right, and forming elaborate theories about Robinson Crusoe and contemporary fiction--all while he watches her swim. She's a good swimmer.
Christmas Inside
Of course you don't know where they've come from. Neither do the doctors--ever trying to be helpful--or the nurses--ever trying to be cheerful--or the students--ever trying to be hopeful. Neither do the zoological societies or the editors of the nature magazines to whom you always write, and from whom you never receive response.
"Earls' prolific oeuvre of 12 novels and two short-story collections has steadily built him an international reputation as a contemporary writer who makes comic yardage--from subtle irony to groan-out-loud gags--out of the emotional entanglements of decent men during episodes of self-evaluation and transformation."
-Sydney Morning Herald
"Contemporary, cliche-free Australian fiction that is sure to have a very wide appeal."
-The Australian
"Earls' appeal is his skill for developing lovable, self-deprecating Aussie males in the 18-40 year-old range."
-Stage Whispers
"Earls paints the battle of the sexes as a friendly duel with plenty of promising common ground, and readers should enjoy this amiable, well-crafted and genuinely romantic book."
-Publishers Weekly on "Perfect Skin"
"Nick Earls is on a literary trail trodden by J.D. Salinger . . . Where this at times very funny and insistently poignant novel achieves its momentum is in the careful pacing of character and slow release of emotions."
-The Age on "Monica Bloom"
Genre: General Fiction
Cabin Baggage
On his way to helping his sister with her wedding preparations, Brad strikes up a cabin-bound conversation with his seat-mate, Claudia--though both swear they are not plane talkers. By the end of a flight during which Claudia convinces Brad to help her dub over the in-flight movie, carry-on peculiar baggage during his next flight, and take her phone number, Brad is infatuated. But Claudia has a guy and a cat and damp rising up her walls and is in Singapore besides, so why is Brad suddenly measuring life in Claudia-time?
The Haircut of a More Successful Man
Sometimes a man just needs a haircut. Sometimes a man needs a shampoo, too. And sometimes, a man needs something more, something more elaborate, something that includes a haircut and a shampoo but also the lithe fingers and gentle voice of being well cared for and groomed.
Headgames
"Sometimes he thinks about swimming, about how his name must sit pretty high on a lot of well-informed people's lists of Coulda Beens. The problem was he should have been, expected to be. They all told him he would be. That he would be a champion and that to get there all he had to do was give it 100 percent. That's what they said."
But that's not what happened. Now he works at a pool, as a lifeguard, collecting damp admission fees from the swimmers, attempting to balance a pH he just can't seem to get right, and forming elaborate theories about Robinson Crusoe and contemporary fiction--all while he watches her swim. She's a good swimmer.
Christmas Inside
Of course you don't know where they've come from. Neither do the doctors--ever trying to be helpful--or the nurses--ever trying to be cheerful--or the students--ever trying to be hopeful. Neither do the zoological societies or the editors of the nature magazines to whom you always write, and from whom you never receive response.
"Earls' prolific oeuvre of 12 novels and two short-story collections has steadily built him an international reputation as a contemporary writer who makes comic yardage--from subtle irony to groan-out-loud gags--out of the emotional entanglements of decent men during episodes of self-evaluation and transformation."
-Sydney Morning Herald
"Contemporary, cliche-free Australian fiction that is sure to have a very wide appeal."
-The Australian
"Earls' appeal is his skill for developing lovable, self-deprecating Aussie males in the 18-40 year-old range."
-Stage Whispers
"Earls paints the battle of the sexes as a friendly duel with plenty of promising common ground, and readers should enjoy this amiable, well-crafted and genuinely romantic book."
-Publishers Weekly on "Perfect Skin"
"Nick Earls is on a literary trail trodden by J.D. Salinger . . . Where this at times very funny and insistently poignant novel achieves its momentum is in the careful pacing of character and slow release of emotions."
-The Age on "Monica Bloom"
Genre: General Fiction
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